Love your neighbour

In the news this week was a heartwarming story of how a lost narwhal found a home and acceptance amongst a pod of beluga whales. While closely related genetically, beluga whales and narwhals do not normally share the same habitat or interact with each other.

This story reminds me of the parable of the Good Samaritan. Perhaps you have heard of it. Jesus tells a story about an injured man by the side of the road. The twist in the story is that he is not rescued by his own countrymen, who just ignore him and keep walking, but by an outsider, a Samaritan.

Jesus was encouraging his listeners to think beyond national boundaries, to see and welcome a person in need as their neighbour, instead of refusing to welcome him or her because he or she does not look and act like them. In a similar way to how the belugas responded well to the narwhal!